OPEC’s oil exports are rising in August

Crude oil exports from OPEC producers rose by 223,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the first week of August, compared to the average shipments for the full month of July, according to data from trade flow intelligence firm Petro-Logistics cited by commodity analyst Giovanni Staunovo on August 10.

In the first seven days of August, OPEC’s crude oil exports averaged 21.325 million bpd, per Petro-Logistics data.

Libyan crude oil exports rebounded, after the African producer, exempted from the OPEC+ deal, lifted a force majeure in the middle of July.

Libyan crude oil shipments jumped by 333,000 bpd to 927,000 bpd, according to Petro-Logistics.

Last week, Petro-Logistics said that Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s top producer and de facto leader, raised its crude oil exports in July to the highest level in 26 months.

“The Kingdom is finally supplying volumes in line with its #OPEC quota after restraining supply in the first-half of 2022,” Petro-Logistics said.

Despite raising its crude oil production in July by 500,000 barrels per day, the OPEC+ group was still well below its collective quota, pumping 2.75 million bpd below targeted output, an Argus survey found on August 10.

OPEC+ saw its combined crude oil production at 38.70 million bpd last month, with Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s top producer and de facto leader, raising its supply to the market the most.

Still, the 500,000-bpd July increase of the collective OPEC+ oil production was lower than the 648,000-bpd rise the alliance had set for each of the months of July and August, after which it will have rolled back all the cuts from May 2020.

Last week, OPEC+ gave the go-ahead to raise the collective oil production target for September by 100,000 BPD. The increase for the entire group means less than a 30,000 bpd rise for Saudi Arabia, and less than a 10,000 bpd increase for the UAE. Those two countries are believed to be the only two producers in OPEC+ and in the world currently holding enough spare capacity to raise their oil production.